Philip K Allan
@PhilipKAllan
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Author of Naval Fiction, writer and speaker on Naval History Goodreads profile at or visit my website at
England, United Kingdom
Joined December 2017
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Published Worldwide today!
The latest instalment in the Alexander Clay Series
#AmReading
#AlexanderClay
#RoyalNavy
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French tricolour from the 74 Genereux, captured in the Mediterranean in 1800. Few realise just how big ship’s ensigns were in the age of sail.
#Flags
#FrenchNavy
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The newly built HMS Dreadnought passing HMS Victory in 1906, showing the extraordinary pace of change in naval technology in the 100 years after Trafalgar.
#Portsmouth
#Battleships
#RoyalNavy
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Reconstruction of the port of ancient Carthage - the circular structure is where war galleys were moored, under cover, like the spokes of a wheel.
#Maritime
#NavalHistory
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Nelson’s day cabin on HMS Victory
Nelson spent much of his last few years in this space leading up to his death at Trafalgar in 1805. The ship is currently undergoing a major restoration but should be open to visit again soon.
#RoyalNavy
#Portsmouth
#Nelson
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HMS Victory by Dutch marine artist Maarten Platje
Another wonderful picture from a contemporary master
#RoyalNavy
#MarineArt
#Nelson
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Cover art for Patrick O’Brian’s The Ionian Mission, painted by Geoff Hunt
#Ageofsail
#sea
#Patrickobrian
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Early dreadnought HMS Superb on the Tyne, emerging like a dragon from its lair
#dreadnought
#maritime
#RoyalNavy
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Ensign of the Spanish 74 San Idefonso, captured at Trafalgar in 1805
Designed to identify a ship from a distance, it can be hard to appreciate just how huge naval flags were. The National Maritime Museum staff in this picture provide some scale
#SpanishNavy
#Royalnavy
#Nelson
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Hermione in drydock
She is a full-sized sailing replica of the 18th century French frigate of the same name and was completed in 2014. The original Hermione brought La Fayette as the French representative to the American rebels in 1779
#FrenchNavy
#AmericanRevolution
#Rochefort
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An 18th Century cannon firing a reduced charge and no ball.
Imagine what a full broadside must have been like…
#RoyalNavy
#Maritime
#Ageofsail
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The Ar-men lighthouse in Brittany being struck by a wave. When she was manned, her keepers reported that such huge waves would bring down everything that was hanging inside. For scale, the lighthouse is 37 meters (121 feet) tall.
#Lighthouses
#sea
#storm
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Studding sails! Set onboard the sailing barque Europa. Only used in calm weather with the wind astern, these sails act to boast a ships sail area.
#Sailing
#Tallships
#Ageofsail
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Nelson's uniform coat worn at Trafalgar in 1805, complete with the hole and damaged epaulette caused by the shot that killed him. It was fired from the mizzen top of the French ship Redoutable.
#Nelson
#RoyalNavy
#FrenchNavy
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Barrack ships in Portsmouth. Many veterans of the Age of Sail were used as barrack ships well into the 20th century, a practice that insured the survival of some, including USS Constitution and HMS Victory.
#USNavy
#RoyalNavy
#Ageofsail
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Foretopsail of HMS Victory, showing some of the battle damage sustained at Trafalgar. The whole sail is so huge it is hard to display but has over a hundred shot holes
#ageofsail
#Nelson
#navalwarfare
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Today in 1805, off Cape
#Trafalgar
near Cadiz, the age of sail’s greatest battle took place.
‘Heavyweight Punch’ by Geoff Hunt shows the leading three ships of the Royal Navy’s windward column sailing into battle, Victory, followed by Temeraire and Neptune
#Royalnavy
#Nelson
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Ensign of the French 74 Généreux, captured in 1800 by the Royal Navy off Sicily. I am always amazed by just how huge naval ensigns are.
#Flags
#RoyalNavy
#FrenchNavy
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On this day, HMS Victory launched at Chatham in 1765
Picture is HMS Victory anchored off the Isle of Wight by John Wilson Carmichael
#RoyalNavy
#Trafalgar
#Nelson
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Studdingsails! Aloft and aloo!
When the wind was light wind and coming from abaft the beam, age of sail ships frequently deployed extra sails to the side of their normal ones using stunsail yard extensions and booms.
#Tallships
#Sea
#Maritime
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On this day in 1805 – The Battle of Trafalgar was fought between the Royal Navy and a combined Franco-Spanish fleet
Painting is by British artist Geoff Hunt, showing the leading ships of Nelson’s weather division, Victory, Temeraire and Neptune
#RoyalNavy
#Nelson
#Trafalgar
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Details from Morning Departure: HMS Arethusa leads the Western Frigate Squadron out of Falmouth Bay, by Maarten Platje
Another painting that will be part of a forthcoming exhibition of marine art in London.
#Ageofsail
#MarineArt
#RoyalNavy
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Thank you to all my readers and followers for their support this year. I hope you all have a great Christmas with those who mean most to you and a Happy New Year.
#AmReading
#AlexanderClay
#Christmas
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On this day, 1765, HMS Victory was launched at Chatham. Happy 256th birthday to the old lady
#maritimehistory
#Nelson
#RoyalNavy
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HMS Fantome in pursuit of a Slaver by Geoff Hunt
In 1841, after a 24-hour chase Fantome caught the fast Portuguese slaver Josephina, which was carrying 290 slaves. The prize ship was conducted to Sierra Leone, where the slaves were freed.
#RoyalNavy
#slavery
#westafrica
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Geoff Hunt’s atmospheric cover art for Treason's Harbour, by Patrick O’Brian
It shows the frigate Surprise at anchor in Grand Harbour, Malta on a moon-lit night
#RoyalNavy
#AubreyMaturin
#ageofsail
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Morning Departures by Montague Dawson
The ship in the centre is Thermopylae leaving Foochow, the principal tea exporting port in 19th century China. Along with Cutty Sark, she was one of the swiftest of the Tea Clippers.
#Ageofsail
#Clippers
#Tea
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South Street, New York by British maritime artist John Stobart. He is best known for his harbour scenes during the age of Sail
#NewYork
#MarineArt
#Ageofsail
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HMS Implacable being towed out to be sunk in 1949, by Norman Wilkinson. Once the French 74 Duguay-Trouin captured at Trafalgar, she then served in the Royal Navy. She was offered to the French Government but the offer was declined.
#RoyalNavy
#FrenchNavy
#Trafalgar
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Victory races Temeraire by British artist Geoff Hunt
A scene from the run up to Trafalgar
#RoyalNavy
#Sea
#Napoleonic
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The Great Chase by contemporary Dutch artist Maarten Platje
This depicts a scene in June 1812 when the USS Constitution was pursued by a far superior Royal Navy squadron in a flat calm and had to use her boats to tow herself clear.
#Sea
#Ageofsail
#USNavy
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‘I have their hearts now’ by Martin Platje
Nelson going aboard Victory in 1805, prior to sailing to take command of the fleet off Cadiz. The quote is from his reaction to the crowds who cheered him off in Portsmouth. The frigate is HMS Euryalus.
#Nelson
#MarineArt
#RoyalNavy
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HMS Albemarle by British marine artist Derek Gardiner
She was a 28-gun sixth rate frigate in the Royal Navy. Captured from the French in 1779, she was once commanded by the 22-year old Captain Horatio Nelson.
#RoyalNavy
#FrenchNavy
#Nelson
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Born on this day in 1758 in a little Norfolk village, Horatio Nelson
The painting is Nelson’s First Prize by B F Gribble
#AgeofSail
#Trafalgar
#RoyalNavy
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“HMS Leopard pursued by the Dutch warship Waakzaamheid in the Roaring Forties,” by English artist Geoff Hunt.
#DutchNavy
#RoyalNavy
#PatrickOBrian
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Hornblower and the Atropos by Christopher Mayger. This was the cover art for one of the editions of the CS Forester book of the same title.
#RoyalNavy
#Ageofsail
#Navalfiction
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Tirpitz painted to camouflage her as quayside houses during her fitting out in 1939.
#WW2
#GermanNavy
#Battleships
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British 74 HMS Achilles, being revictualled by lighters. Painting by British artist John Michael Groves
#RoyalNavy
#sea
#MarineArt
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HMS Britannia Entering Portsmouth by George Chambers
Britannia was one of a class of nine 120 gun first rates designed by William Rule. She was laid down in Plymouth in 1813.
I do like the boat in the foreground towing spars.
#AgeofSail
#Maritime
#RoyalNavy
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I have never thought of container ships as attractive, but from a certain angle...
Photo by Abstract Aerial Art
#MerchantMarine
#nautical
#shipping
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German Battle Cruiser Gneisenau in drydock for repairs after having been damaged by a torpedo fired by
#RoyalNavy
Submarine HMS Clyde in 1940
#WW2
#Sea
#Navy
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Photo from 1911 by F Mortimer from one of the rescue boats sent out to the "Ardencraig", a sailing barque wrecked in the Scilly Isles. She struck the Crim Ledge in fog on passage from Melbourne to Calais with a cargo of grain. There was no loss of life.
#Maritime
#Tallships
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For those who liked my recent post of Nelson’s Day cabin on the Victory – here it is again – in Ridley Scott’s latest film. Showing Wellington meeting Napoleon onboard HMS Bellerophon (which never happened)
#Napoleon
#RoyalNavy
#Nelson
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"The whaleship Essex leaving Nantucket, August 12th, 1819" by New Zealand artist Anthony D Blake. She was later sunk in the Pacific by a large bull sperm whale.
#Essex
#Nantucket
#Marine
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West Indies Squadron, by British Marine artist Geoff Hunt
This is one of a series of pictures inspired by the Hornblower books of CS Forester
#Hornblower
#AgeofSail
#Sea
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The Old Superb by Montague Dawson
HMS Superb was a 74 designed by Sir Thomas Slade. Launched in 1760, she spent much of her career in Indian waters as Admiral Hughes's flagship during his many battles with the French under Admiral Suffren.
#RoyalNavy
#FrenchNavy
#India
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On this day 500 years ago, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sets out on to circumnavigate the world for the first time with five ships and 270 men. One ship and 18 men will survive the epic voyage.
#Magellan
will not be among their number.
#Maritime
#circumnavigation
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The Haimak by Montague Dawson (1890-1973, English)
I particular like the sea in the foreground - parts of it done with a pallet knife
#Ageofsail
#RoyalNavy
#clipper
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The Royal George at Plymouth by British Maritime Artist Derek Gardiner
The Royal George was a 1st rate launched in 1756. She foundered in a bizarre accident while at anchor in 1782 with huge loss of life.
#RoyalNavy
#Sea
#AgeofSail
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Lower deck of HMS Victory
Most RN ships of the line carried 32pds on their lower decks, which offered a combination of weight of shot and rate of fire. Known as ‘Ship Smashers’ a 32pdr could penetrate almost 3 feet of seasoned oak at 400 yards.
#RoyalNavy
#Nelson
#Ageofsail
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Detail from ‘The Battle of Santa Domingo’ by Dutch artist Maarten Platje
The painting will be part of a forthcoming exhibition of marine art in London that will include new works from Geoff Hunt, Patrick O’Brien and Mark Myers amongst others.
#Ageofsail
#MarineArt
#RoyalNavy
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Plates on a dresser onboard the wreck of HMS Terror, one of Franklin’s two ill-fated ships lost searching for the Northwest Passage in 1845. They had been undisturbed on the seabed for almost 175 years, until photographed by Parks Canada earlier this month
#RoyalNavy
#Franklin
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HMS Bellona, by Geoff Hunt. Launched in 1760, she was a veteran of three wars, and was not broken up until 1814. If this painting is familiar, it was used as the cover for one of
#PatrickOBrian
's novels.
#RoyalNavy
#maritime
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“H.M.S. Sandwich laying her mooring at sunset” by English artist Jack Spurling. She was a second rate launched at Chatham in 1759. A few errors in the detail of the ship, but what light and atmosphere.
#ageofsail
#MarineArt
#RoyalNavy
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The ship that won WW2 - Liberty ships at the end of the war
A simple ship capable of mass-production, over 2,700 were built, using US industrial mussel to out-pace the rate Axis submarines could sink them. The quickest was built in 24 days.
#WW2
#UBoats
#BattleOfTheAtlantic
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USS Iowa visiting Portsmouth in 1989, with HMS Victory in the background.
#USNavy
#Portsmouth
#Victory
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HMS Agamemnon by Geoff Hunt. A 64-gun ship of the line, said to have been Nelson's favourite ship.
#RoyalNavy
#Nelson
#Maritime
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What every well-equipped shed needs – can of petrol, wood saw, Royal Navy 18pdr…
#Ageofsail
#RoyalNavy
#Cannon
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French corvette Bayonnaise rams and then boards HMS Ambuscade. Outgunned and facing defeat, this bold move resulted in a French victory. Painting by French artist Jean Francois Hue
#Sea
#Frenchnavy
#RoyalNavy
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Leander class frigate HMS Minerva. Recovering that helicopter looks like it's going to be fun.
#Minerva
#maritime
#RoyalNavy
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Destruction of the Droits de L'Homme by Geoffrey Hubband
She was a French 74 that fought an epic dual in a storm off the coast of Brittany in 1797 with two
#RoyalNavy
frigates - HMS Indefatigable, under the legendary Sir Edward Pellew, and HMS Amazon.
#FrenchNavy
#Ageofsail
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Few ships fought harder in the Napoleonic Wars than HMS Bellerophon. From the first major fleet action in 1794 to the capture of Napoleon in 1815, the “Billy Ruffian” was there – her story in my blog this week.
#RoyalNavy
#Napoleon
#maritime
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The hulls of two German Dreadnoughts, a battleship and battlecruiser, found in Kiel in 1918, abandoned before completion.
#GermanNavy
#TheGreatWar
#WW1
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I do love a good figurehead!
This one comes from HMS Black Prince, the sister ship of HMS Warrior and the second ocean-going ironclad built for the Royal Navy.
The moustache alone would send most enemies packing.
#RoyalNavy
#Sea
#AgeofSail
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Picture from 1895 of 2 RN ships of the line converted into barracks, HMS Duke of Wellington and HMS Marlborough. Repurposing old warships was common, and thanks to this we still have historic ships like HMS Victory and USS Constitution
#RoyalNavy
#Victorians
#Sailors
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If you struggling to work out why your romantic partner is glaring at you today, relax. They’re just annoyed that you have forgotten that it’s the 223rd anniversary of the Battle of Cape St Vincent.
#Valentines
#Nelson
#RoyalNavy
#OnThisDay
1797 a
@RoyalNavy
Fleet under Adm Jervis in HMS VICTORY defeated a Spanish Fleet off Portugal at Cape St Vincent. The battle also featured one Horatio Nelson in HMS CAPTAIN & Cuthbert Collingwood in HMS EXCELLENT. The victory was a success of teamwork
#C2DRIL
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Le Foudroyant, by Auguste Mayer. A 110-gun first rate, she was launched in 1724, just when the bankrupt French state was turning its back on its navy. Left to rot at her moorings, she was finally broken up in 1742, having never gone to sea.
#Maritime
#warships
#Frenchnavy
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Careening a ship. During the age of sail this was a common site. All wooden ships needed to be regularly hauled down to have their hulls cleaned of weed and ship worms.
#Teredo
#Sea
#tallships
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Restoring HMS Victory, by William Lionel Wyllie. Nelson’s flagship was saved from the breaker’s yard by public fund-raising organised by the Society for Nautical Research in the 1920s
#Nelson
#RoyalNavy
#ageofsail
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Three veteran battleships being scrapped at Inverkeithing, near Rosyth 1949: HMS Rodney, HMS Nelson and, outside, HMS Revenge.
#WW2
#Battleships
#RoyalNavy
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The Long Chase – Nelson and the Mediterranean Fleet, June 1805 by Mark Myers
Before Trafalgar, Nelson chased Villeneuve’s fleet across the Atlantic to the West Indies and back, as readers of Clay and the Immortal Memory will know well.
#RoyalNavy
#Trafalgar
#AlexanderClay
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Part of the British Mediterranean fleet in Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta, 1863.
#RoyalNavy
#Malta
#Victorians
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The life of the modern harbour pilot, wondering when ships will stop getting bigger...
#maritime
#pilots
#merchantmarine
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The Spanish leviathan Santisima Trinidad was arguably the greatest ship of the age of sail.
Learn her story in this week's blog
#SantisimaTrinidad
#SpanishNavy
#Trafalgar
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Replica 54 gun ship of the line Poltava. The original was launched in 1712, and the replica in 2018. Poltava was one of the first Russian ships built after Tsar Peter the Great studied shipbuilding in Holland and England.
#Poltava
#maritime
#RussianNavy
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The age of sail produced many strange weapons, but few odder than the duck’s foot pistol, designed to clear a section of deck when boarding.
#Ageofsail
#RoyalNavy
#smallarms
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Haunting wreck of the Swedish ship Mars, which exploded and sunk in the Baltic in 1564
For scale, find the diver in the top right
Photo from National Geographic
#SwedishNavy
#nautical
#wrecks
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I do like a bit of forgotten history. And good beer, for that matter…
In 1944 HMS Menestheus was converted into a floating brewery to provide beer for British personnel in the Pacific, producing 250 barrels of Davy Jones ale a week.
#WW2
#Beer
#RoyalNavy
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